This invention relates generally to water dispenser for feeding small animals, and more particularly to an improved type thereof specifically adapted for feeding mice and rats.
Automatic feeding of drinking water to experimental animals is essential for labor-saving breeding of these animals and for providing a supply of drinking water at all times.
Among water dispensers for various small animals such as mice and rats, there is a horizontal type dispenser comprising a fixed support structure provided outside the cage in which mice and rats are bred, a substantially horizontal water feed tube resiliently supported at its proximal or upstream end by the support structure and extending into the cage, and a poppet valve within the structure to control water flow from the water supply source into the feed tube. When a small animal within the cage senses the water vapor from within the feed tube, it nudges the free end of the feed tube. The nudging force thus applied to the feed tube causes it to be inclined so that the poppet valve is opened to cause water to flow into the feed tube and out of the downstream end thereof. Thus, the animal can drink the water.
In this case, however, excess or unused portion of the water thus fed tends to drip downward from the downstream end of the feed tube onto the fed or floor of the cage, thus wetting the same and necessitating bed cleaning and drying. Sometimes small animals in the cage touch the downstream end of the feed tube with their forelegs in fun, causing continuous flow of water into the cage. This is serious because the bed or floor of the cage will be flooded.